GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Continuing it's seasons long trend of taking on the best competition in the nation, the nationally-ranked Christopher Newport men's golf program is closing out the 2022 fall season at the O'Briant-Jensen Memorial in Greensboro, N.C. After the first round of play, the Captains have a seven-stroke lead over No. 1 Emory and are up eight on No. 2 Methodist as a team, while senior Alex Price (-3) is locked in a four-way tie for the lead. 

Christopher Newport shot a one-over par 285 as a team, signing for the best round of the season so far for the Captains. Looking at the scorecards, the Captains put together an impressive run of clean holes with just 19 bogey or worse scores in the combined 90 holes played on Monday. Only Emory, Greensboro and Sewanee came close to that collective success, with 22, 22 and 23 holes over par, respectively, as the two finished fifth and sixth after the first round. 

Leading the charge was senior left-hander Alex Price, with another round under par with a 68 (-3). He dropped three birdies and sank an Eagle on the longest hole of the day, the 547-yard Par 5 fifteenth hole. He added 12 pars and scored just a couple of bogeys in one of the finest rounds of the day. He'll enter Tuesday's second round with the lead, tied with three other individuals in the 102-player field. 

Price has now finished seven of his 10 rounds played this season at par or better and has lowered his season scoring average to 70.2. In three events, he has finished in the top ten all three times with one win and two top-five efforts. 

Not far behind was rookie Austin Smith (E), who sits tied for sixth after the first 18 holes. Only a double-bogey on the 542-yard Par 5 fourth hole marred an otherwise brilliant performance for the freshman. He birdied the second and got back to even with a birdie on 18. Outside of those three holes, Smith was 15-for-15 on pars for one of the cleanest cards in the tournament. He matched his career-best performance with the 71 and recorded his third round at par or better through nine played this season. 

Just one stroke behind Smith was Jack Gessaman (+1), currently tied for 10th after an opening round 72. Adding to his strong fall performances, Gessaman recorded three birdies and 11 pars in the round. Aidan Baron (+3) finished out the scoring cards for the Captains in the first round, tied for 21st with a 74. Baron notched an eagle 3 on the same hole as Price and added two birdies and eight pars over the first 18 holes. 

Robb Kinder (+9) was plagued by three plus holes that pushed him to a nine-over par finish, but the overall performance was promising for the senior Captain. Kinder had 11 total pars and picked up a birdie on the 477-yard Par 5 tenth hole. 

Christopher Newport will take it's first-round lead into Tuesday's final round while facing a field that includes nine teams ranked in the top-40 on the GolfStat Ratings. CNU will tee off starting at 11:00 a.m. from the first hole on Tuesday, playing with second- and third-place Emory and Methodist. Live scoring is available with a link found at CNUsports.com.